 Welcome to The Journey. Today we're going to talk about why you need a business domain name. All right, so digital marketing is not just an option anymore. It's a necessity for your business to thrive in today's world. But what's a domain? What is a domain, Emma? One of my favorite ways, and my co-host nearly taught me this to remember, one of my favorite ways to look at the domain is like your address, your street address, and your website. That's like your house. Yeah, it's where you live, and it's where your website lives, right? So let's talk about why your business needs that domain. The domain name is essentially the building block of your online presence. Talk about what our domain name is. We're going to go over just a few little points of choosing the right domain name and why it really matters to you. Let's dive in. So when thinking about domains, thinking about what is that actually going to be, I know it comes up a lot when speaking to local heroes is SEO, search engine optimization. What words should you use? Because there are key words depending on your industry and your business, and there are relevant words that your customers are going to be searching. So you want to make sure you're paying attention to that and including that when thinking about your domain name. Yeah, and on the flip side, you also don't want to limit your business, right? Like if you're a coffee shop and you put coffeeshopchanler.com, that chandler is a city. What if you want to expand? Now you're no longer in the chandler area. So when you're choosing your domain name, figure out are you going to expand? Do you want to or you're just going to be in that one little city? It's up to you. And just as important when thinking about the word choice that you're using with domain name, also be sure to do a similar approach when thinking about your email address. I know for me, when I see an email come in for a business and it's at Gmail, not as professional as if it's at and then their business name. You need a domain name to be able to do that. And that's why it's super important. Your domain name is going to let you have that professional email that's going to let you communicate back and forth to your clients and not only let you look more professional, but it's going to add credibility. Because like you said, if I was emailing someone, I got a response back from a Gmail. Anybody can make a Gmail. I don't know if this person is legitimate. I don't know if they are who they say they are. I'm scared. I'm going home. I'm not talking to them. Shut the door. All that fun stuff. So you're likely not going to get his business. None of it. With the Gmail. I'll save my money for pizza. You know what I love about websites? What? They're open 24 seven. You gotta have one. You gotta have one to be found by customers without a website. You don't exist. Right. And what I always like to say is your website is your hardest working employee. Think about it. It never sleeps. Never takes a sick day. It's always there. It's dependable. Have that website and really show off your brand. And when you don't have a website and you don't have that domain name, it's really hard to earn someone's business. I was in Iowa over the past couple of days and literally almost. How was that? It was fun. I didn't even ask. I had a blast. I've never been. Iowa, it's cool. They have some cool bars there. I checked them out. But I was trying to find a just a steakhouse to go with the friends I was with. And most of the restaurants did not have a website. They linked me to a Facebook page. Some of them, if that was at best. Or there was nothing at all. It was super frustrating trying to find a steakhouse. You just wanted a steak. Imagine me trying to find a tofu meal in Iowa. I'd starve. You'd be done, right? And it was super frustrating for me. And to think about your customers that are looking for your type of business. Now, if they find you on Google My Business or Yelp or wherever else and there's nowhere else to link to to get more information, they're going to be frustrated and you're going to lose their business forever. Don't be at the mercy of just your customer reviews. Get a website. Yeah. And there are plenty of places to get that website. Now, you technically don't need a domain name to build a website. You can have temporary domains like GoDaddy's website builder. You can have yourname.GoDaddySites.com. Wix has your name.Wix.com. But it goes back to that professionalism and that credibility. If you don't have your own domain name, they're pretty cheap, like 20 bucks a year to give or take, right? Yeah. Have that there and show your customers that you mean business. So, Nealey, speaking of websites, another thing that I want to talk about with our audience, copyright. Keeping it protected. Whatever you put on your website, correct me if I'm wrong, whatever you put on your website, you won't. That's yours. Whatever you put on your website that you create is yours. Thanks for clearing that up what he said. Right. So, the content you put up especially if like you're a designer or a photographer, things like that. Or a musician. Yeah. The content that you create and put on your website is protected by copyright laws so that your information is safe and it's yours. So, cool little tidbit. You have to have a website and you have to have a domain name to be able to do that. Now, I know social media is all the rage right now. Everyone's on Instagram, everyone's on Twitter and Facebook and everyone just wants to be there. But what I strongly urge everyone to really think about is those platforms can come and go. What happened to Vine? It came. It went. It went. People built up large, large followings and spent a ton of time on Vine and it's gone. All those subscribers, all those everything is gone. But you know what won't go away? Can you guess? Well, I'm biased. I think social media is here to stay but I know what he wants me to say. Website. Yes. So, social media is always going to be here but the profiles and the websites themselves may change or they may change in a direction that doesn't really work with your business anymore. Your website will always be there. You control all the content on it. You control what goes on with it. It's all yours. Another important thing that I want to bring up that I often advise with your website is the importance of including your customer reviews there. Now, sure they already exist over on Yelp and Google but having them on your website as well acts as social proof. So, I strongly encourage that and plus think about it. Let's say I land on your website first and I'm deciding if I want to use your business to go to to get my car wash and I see all these great testimonials from your customers. That might be just a one and done. I hate your website. I don't even need to go anywhere else. I'm going to go to your business. You have won me over with your social proof on there. Absolutely. And with your website too it really makes customers or potential customers just have an easy way to contact you. There's usually a contact form there and a phone number or social handles or everything else that they need to contact you. Now, when it comes to domain names, let's give them a couple of pro tips on how to really select the right domain name. We talked about keywords, things like that. There's some things that we should avoid. First or foremost, you should avoid hyphens in domain names, right? You don't want this dash is dash a dash really dash long dash domain dash dot dash dash dash dash dash. Make your customers dash. Right. So avoid those dashes and I always like to talk to the local heroes about the the radio test. Remember the radio test in one of the early videos? Yes. You did enlighten me with that. It was short. It was sweet. How long? Yeah. So if I gave you a 10 second radio ad and just to talk about your business, you had to end with a call to action of your domain name. Would that person remembering your domain name in that little ad spot? Now, if it's super long or complicated or they can't remember how to spell it or whatever it might be, it's going to be a bad domain name. So try to keep it short, sweet, memorable and something that someone like us would remember. What do you mean by that? We're millennials. We're everywhere. All right. That's a wrap. Go ahead and comment below on what you learned for the benefit of your domain name. Also, be sure to like this video and subscribe so you're in tune with all the future content we're creating. And ring that bell. So you'll be the first to know what's next. This is The Journey. We'll see you next time.